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Electric Car Lucid Air Reaches 217mph In Testing

This virtually unheard of electric saloon, or sedan as you call it across the pond, seems to be getting closer to the market as the company stepped into a period of testing before the New York Motor Show.

It was revealed that during a running test, the Lucid Air Alpha had reached a crazy 217mph (350km/h) on the oval of Ohio’s transport research centre. Due to the high wind resistance at those sorts of speeds, the batteries don’t last as long as they would at road speeds, where usually the Lucid would display a range of 400 miles from its 130 kilowatt hours capacity if you drive it like an undertaker.

The test was to test how the systems coped with high speed running, such as cooling, motor management, and stability. This data will now be used to improve the car for its later tests in the year where they will try and push the top speed even higher.

Electric cars aren’t known for their top speeds. The Tesla Model S for example, rockets to 60mph in 2.7 seconds (but has reached 2.3 seconds according to Tesla), but loses puff as you reach further up the speedometer.

Recently though, electric cars have been producing more horsepower, and merged with their already high torque output, they are starting to put fueled cars to shame in terms of their performance. For example, the NIO EP9 can reach 100km/h in 2.7 seconds, 200km/h in 7.1, and carry on to 195 mph.

The Lucid is even faster than that with the top of the range producing 1000hp, which is set to cost around $160,000, and a 400hp model with a 240 mile range, which will cost around $60,000.

Lucid clarified that the first phase of production will begin in 2019 where 10,000 units will take to the market. These cars will take the competition straight to Tesla, but will this new name on the block be able to defeat what has become a massive brand and a household name in America? We’ll find out in two years.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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